Crested Serpent Eagle

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela) is a medium-sized forest eagle with a large crested head, yellow bare facial skin and broad rounded wings patterned with pale spots. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits tropical Asian forests and wooded country, often soaring and calling above the canopy before hunting snakes, lizards, frogs and other small vertebrates. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).